Creative Assembly’s Hyenas was a shooter game with fans anticipating a release date not too far into the future. Announced last year, the game was thought to be near complete as the beta version finished on September 11, 2023. Shockingly, publisher Sega has canceled Hyenas as of this morning, September 28, just less than three weeks after the beta closed.
Sega chalked the cancellation up to expecting loss in profits from Europe due to their economic downturn regarding recent inflation. Besides canceling Hyenas, Sega also stated that due to these effects, they will “implement reduction of various fixed expenses at several group companies in relevant region” with a specific focus on the UK-based Creative Assembly.
The cancellation came as a surprise to everyone, including the team at Creative Assembly. IGN states the staff was told about the cancellation as the news broke to the public. Creative Assembly has since announced on X/Twitter that there will be layoffs at their company and they are starting the process of redundancy. Still, the studio promises they will help those on the Hyenas team, stating:
“We will work to re-allocate them into other available roles within CA wherever possible, and ultimately minimise any job losses.”
Although the cancellation is a shock, Sega already had concerns with the project, although they implied the game would still be launched. In August, they described it as a “challenging title” while also not going into any detail about their worries.
“We are unable to talk about this title because the details have not yet been announced at this time,” Sega previously stated, “As this is a challenging title, we are striving to improve its quality towards the release on the front line of development. We are also making final adjustments to its business model in parallel.”
Creative Assembly and Hyenas aren’t the only ones affected by Sega’s concerns about a financial loss. They are also canceling other, unannounced titles made by European studios they own. Studios potentially affected include Amplitude (Endless Space), Two Point Studios, and Sports Interactive (Football Manager).